Dates And Other Difficulties
by VanInBlack
Summary: What happens when Jennifer Jareau wakes up in David Rossi's bed and doesn't remember how she got there? AU, w/o Will and Henry.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Here's another little story from me before I get back to my new chapter of "One Night". It was originally intended to be a one-shot, and I've already finished writing it, but I still have to type the rest, so I decided to split it up into two or three chapters. The rest will be posted later today, as I have to catch up some sleep right now.**_

_**Hope you guys enjoy, please let me know what you think!**_

_**Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to me, this was written solely for entertaining purposes. **_

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**Dates And Other Difficulties**

What a wonderful dream! Jennifer Jareau was lying in bed, held by strong arms, tightly wrapped around her petite body, pressing her against a solid chest, and felt completely relaxed and content. Feeling the sleep leaving her body and beginning to wake up, she desperately wanted to hold on to this wonderful dream, if only just for another few minutes.

Stirring to turn herself around, she noticed that something or someone was keeping her in place, that she couldn't move. This was not a dream anymore, was it? Because it definitely felt like those strong arms and the hard, but warm chest were real!

Inhaling a deep breath, JJ also realized that that this was not her own bed she was lying in. There was something familiar about the scent that surrounded her, but she couldn't quite put her finger into what it was, or who this scent belonged to. She felt the arms tightening around her waist and her back even more, and pressed her face into what she just now noticed was a _naked_ chest. For some reason, she felt so comfortable that she didn't just want to leave this current state yet, and the strangely familiar scent of this man assured her that there was nothing to be worried about at the moment.

Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to recall what had happened the night before, how she had ended up in a bed with an unknown man, but her memory seemed a bit hazy. Of course, she could have just raised her head to find out who the guy was, but she felt way too comfortable and lazy right now to do that. God, she could get used to this!

_If she was correct – something that she wasn't really sure about – it was now Saturday morning. What had she done Friday night? Oh right, the date! _

_Agent James Henderson, a colleague from the Cyber Crime Unit had asked her out. He was a nice and attractive man, if she might say so, pretty much the type of men she had always used to date, and she actually enjoyed their little flirts when they met in the cafeteria or somewhere else in the great halls of the FBI headquarters. They were also a welcomed distraction from the one man she'd been interested in more than anyone else, but who she was more than certain she could never have. Oh well, she'd actually thought it would help her to get over her infatuation with David Rossi – something of which the legendary profiler hopefully wasn't aware of – when she went out on a date with another man. And since she'd always liked to be in Agent Henderson's company, she figured that it couldn't hurt to be with him. At the very least she was going to have a nice dinner and a pleasant conversation. She'd never have imagined how wrong she'd been on that. _

_The date had turned out to be a complete disaster. This man, who had always seemed so nice and well-mannered, had turned out to be the most impolite and self-centered person she'd ever met! Talking without drawing a breath, only about himself and what a great Agent he thought he was, she'd already realized on the way to the restaurant that she was going to end this evening as quickly as possible, and that there would definitely not be a second date. But since she hadn't eaten a lot over the course of the day and had been quite hungry by the time he picked her up, she thought about the free dinner she was going to get and decided to sit through it and at least enjoy some good Chinese food. However, even that had gone totally wrong! _

_Never before had she seen a man having such bad table manners. By the time they'd gotten their meals, he had already downed two beers, belching a couple of times without even thinking about apologizing for it. All of her appetite had suddenly vanished when he started to eat. Shoving the food into his mouth as if he'd been on the verge of starving, munching with his mouth wide open, he never stopped talking, exposing JJ to the repulsive sight of his chewed food. When a piece of meat fell out of his mouth, JJ decided she'd had enough. Excusing herself for a moment, she went over to the restrooms and tried to think of an excuse to leave this guy at once. Deciding to fake a pounding headache, she went back out, and asked him, as politely as she could in that situation, if he minded she went home now, her head was killing her. Muttering something she could barely identify as "Sure, okay", he never even looked up from his plate as she left the restaurant. Once outside, she took a deep breath before she pulled out her cell phone to call a taxi. Dialing the number, she suddenly heard a familiar voice calling her name. Raising her head, she saw David Rossi approaching her..._

Oh my God, Rossi! Suddenly recognizing who the familiar scent belonged to, her eyes snapped open and her head jerked up, seeing that it was indeed Rossi who she had shared the bed with all night.

"Good Morning, Sunshine!" He greeted her with a wide grin on his face, looking like he'd obviously been awake for quite a while.

"Oh my God, this can't be true!" She only realized that she'd said these words out loud when she heard him ask: "What?"

Wriggling out of his arms to sit up next to him, JJ desperately tried to remember what had happened after she had agreed to go home with him. He had offered her some wine and a feel-good movie to get over that disastrous date, she had ranted to him about as soon as he'd asked her what she was doing in front of that restaurant alone.

But her mind was totally blank, she had no idea when or why she had ended up in his bed. Not that she hadn't fantasized about it before, but right now was not a good time to indulge in these fantasies.

"What happened? How did I get here?" She asked him softly, blushing as she felt embarrassed for having to admit that she didn't remember anything. She saw him opening his mouth to respond, but before he had a chance to say a word, she suddenly realized that she was not wearing all of her clothes anymore, but one of his shirts over her underwear.

"Please tell me that's not true. I did not have a one-night stand with David Rossi," she muttered barely audible in disbelief, more to herself than to him. "This is so wrong."

The grin on his face became bigger and bigger as she tried to wrap her mind around that thought.

"Please tell me what happened!" She practically begged him. "And wipe that stupid, cocky grin off your face!"

"Why don't you tell me?" He smirked.

"Jesus, Rossi, would I be asking if I remembered? All I know is that we sat down on your couch with a glass of wine to watch a movie. After that, everything goes blank."

Leaning over to look deeply into her eyes, making her shiver at the intensity and gentleness of his stare, he wanted to know earnestly: "You really don't remember the mind-blowing, life-altering sex we had last night?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thank you very much everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited the story! I appreciate your feedback very much, so keep it coming! **_

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**Dates And Other Difficulties**

JJ felt her face pale, and started to panic. Almost jumping out of his bed, she frantically began to pace around in his bedroom. This was not how she imagined things to happen, in fact, she'd sworn to herself that she'd never just hop into bed with her – granted – very attractive colleague. No amount of flirting on his side would make her do that! And now she had to realize that all of her wonderfully laid plans had come crushing down.

"You seriously have great legs, JJ," Dave teased after a few moments of enjoying the view she gave him, pulling JJ out of her thoughts for a second.

"Shut up, Rossi! I'm trying to come to terms with some things here!" She snapped at him.

Watching her silently for a couple of minutes, trying to understand the incoherent things she was mumbling to herself, he wasn't able to get the amused smile out of his face. She was so adorable when she was confused that he decided to mess with her for a little bit longer, keeping the not so exciting secret of their nightly activities to himself. She would pay him back for it, of that he was sure about, but right now it was oh so worth it.

Getting up from the bed himself, he said: "Why don't you go to the bathroom and have a nice, long shower while I make us some breakfast? I'm sure it'll help you get your nerves back in control again."

Shooting him a dark glare, groaning loudly at the smirk on his face, she mentally cursed him for not seeing the seriousness of this situation, for instead making fun of her. She felt the urge to smack him, but stopped tracks when she saw him grab his shirt from his recliner and couldn't help but stare at him while he put it on. Damn, there should be a law against looking so hot and sexy in boxers only!

"What?" Rossi asked amused, knowing exactly where she had been looking at, secretly reveling in the fact that she was so obviously attracted to him.

"Nothing," JJ muttered, blushing again for having been caught, and turned away, walking into his bathroom without another word.

Putting off the thoughts of this infuriating man who had haunted her dreams for quite a while wasn't so easy, however. Her rational mind screamed at her that it was a mistake to get involved with him, that they still had to work together, but her heart couldn't forget how wonderful it had felt being wrapped up in his arms. Pulling his shirt over her head, she deeply inhaled his scent that was so uniquely David Rossi, that smelled so wonderful that she couldn't seem to think straight anymore. Oh, what would she give to fall asleep in his arms every night, to make love to him and actually remember it the next morning. But that had always seemed to be too far away for her to become true. His reputation as the Bureau's most notorious Lothario in history made it impossible for her to believe that he would see more in her than just a pleasant company for one night. He didn't really make a secret out of the fact that he wanted her, as he'd been openly flirting ever since he'd been back, but he never specified what it was exactly that he wanted, he never indicated that he was interested in more than just a quick roll in the hay. And she would not be available for anything short of a long-term relationship, she was definitely not willing to be just another addition to his ever-growing list of conquests. Well, that was until now.

Cursing herself for having fallen under the spell of the legendary profiler, she stepped into the shower and let the warm water rain over her body. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to get the pictures of him half-naked out of her mind, but she failed miserably. There was no way he'd ever vanish from her thoughts, especially not now that her fantasies had been fueled even more. If she was honest with herself, she'd admit that he'd been in her thoughts and dreams for almost as long as he'd been flirting with her, and that her poor attempts at trying to date other men just to get him out of her system were doomed to fail from the beginning.

Stepping out of the shower a good fifteen minutes later, she had to admit that Rossi was right. She definitely felt more relaxed than before, even though she still couldn't get over the embarrassment that she couldn't remember anything from the night before. Getting dressed in her own clothes, she tried to come up with an idea of how to proceed now. She hoped he wouldn't make a big deal out of it and just follow her in pretending that nothing had happened. "This would be the best for all of us," she thought as she made her way down to the kitchen.

Greeting her with a warm smile, he gestured her to sit at the kitchen counter as he finished scrambling some eggs and making pancakes. "Feelin' better now?" he asked gently, and JJ was glad that the cocky grin from earlier had disappeared.

She nodded and took a seat, deciding to get things straight right away. "Can we just forget that last night ever happened, Dave?" She asked him softly.

Turning around with the frying pan in his hand, he put some eggs on the plate in front of her, and wanted to know: "Why? Was it so hard for you to be with me?" He knew that now would probably be the best time to tell her the truth, but for some reason, it was too much fun for him to see her squirm like that. Besides, he wanted to hear her reasons why she wanted to keep her distance when he knew that she longed for him just as much as he longed for her.

"Dave, we're working together! We can't sleep together!" She shot out.

"Says who?" Dave retorted.

"Me! And I actually don't do one-night stands anyway."

"Good, maybe we should do it more often then."

"I don't do casual affair either!" JJ exasperated, and added softly, almost pleadingly: "Please, I-I just want to forget about it, okay? I mean, I don't remember it anyway, and I think it's probably better if I don't get that memory back. This was definitely not one of my finer moments."

Just tell her! His mind screamed at him, and he'd already opened his mouth to answer, but JJ stopped him right away: "Don't, Dave. I don't want to hear anything anymore, okay?"

Closing his mouth again, he decided to wait for a moment when she'd calmed down a bit, and quickly changed the subject. "So, is there anything you want to do today?"

JJ rolled her eyes: "Dave, what did I just say?"

"That's not what I meant. I thought, you know, that maybe I'll show you around here, and we'll go for a walk or something like that. Whatever you like."

"Thanks, but I'd rather just go home," JJ answered truthfully.

"You sure? It's really nice and relaxing out here."

"I'm sure. I'm probably not such a good company today."

They finished their breakfast in silence, and JJ secretly noticed that these were the best pancakes she ever had. Damn, this man was becoming more and more wonderful! For a quick moment she considered to take his offer and stay, but then her mind screamed at her that he would probably just trying to get her in his bed again, so she insisted on going home right after breakfast. She had wanted to call a cab, but this time it was Dave to insist that he drove her home.

The ride back to the city went by in silence for most of the time. Dave tried to do some small-talk, but had to realize soon that JJ was too lost in her thoughts to communicate at the moment.

As soon as they'd left his house, JJ's mind again focused on how safe and comfortable she had felt lying in his arms, and she was surprised to feel the disappointment in herself grow for having to leave his place where she'd felt the most relaxed and secure in a long time.

When he had dropped her off, he cursed himself for not having told her the truth. This was not how he'd planned this weekend to end, not what he had planned to do with her. But if there was one thing, then it was being relentless. He just knew that this was definitely not the end of it. There was no way he'd let her slip away from him now that he had had her in his bed and in his arms. He'd give her some time to think over the weekend, and then on Monday he would work his charms on her again. And the next time, she would not be able to turn him down again, he smiled to himself. Next time, he would get his chance to tell her how he really felt.

Finally alone in her apartment, JJ tried to busy herself with cleaning the place and doing the laundry, hoping that it would relax her to have a quiet an relaxing weekend, but her mind worked overtime and couldn't seem to let her get the rest her body screamed for. At some point, she just gave in, deciding to have a relaxing bath and let her thoughts wander in whichever direction they wanted to. And it worked, she felt a lot better when she got out of the tub.

However, that lasted for about five minutes.

Opening her medicine cabinet over the bathroom sink to get out her hand cream, the empty packing of her contraceptive pill flew out and JJ felt her heart sink. She had stopped taking the pill after her last relationship ended, knowing that if she ever were to have a one-night stand, she'd insist on using a condom anyway. Had she done that with Rossi? Was he smart enough to think of it himself? She felt the panic building up inside her, she sank down onto the edge of her bathtub and knew that this night could very easily turn into the worst nightmare she'd ever had.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: I know I said this would be the last chapter, but I decided to split it up again when I realized that I promised another chapter of "One Night" today as well and I hadn't typed anything yet. So you're going to have to wait until tomorrow for the conclusion ;-). **_

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**Dates And Other Difficulties**

Monday morning found a very agitated Jennifer Jareau bursting into David Rossi's office as soon as she had arrived at the FBI headquarters at eight o' clock. How she had survived the weekend she didn't know. She had tried to call Rossi twice, but his phone went straight to voice mail, and the worrying about whether or not there was even the slightest chance she might have become pregnant drove her totally crazy.

"Did you use a condom Friday night?" She blurted out without bothering to greet him first.

"I'm sorry?" Dave gave her a quizzical look.

"Dave, please, just answer the question! Did you or did you not use a condom when you slept with me Friday night?" JJ repeated impatiently.

Taking a deep breath, Dave knew the moment of truth had finally come. All he could do now was hope that she would take his little prank as what it was – a joke. But judging from her agitated and fidgeting appearance and the sudden emergence in his office, she had spent the better part of her weekend worried, and was now probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and he wouldn't be a legend in his field of work if he didn't realize that the chances of her taking the news lightly were minimal to none.

"Why don't we sit over here at the couch," he suggested, standing up from behind his desk and guiding her over to the other side of the room.

"Dave, please!" JJ pleaded as he gently pushed her down the couch and sat next to her.

"To answer your question: No, I did not use a condom-," he said as evenly as possible.

"Oh my God," JJ let out, her face falling into her hands, as she tried to comprehend the news.

"-because we didn't have sex Friday night," Dave concluded.

Her head jerking up, JJ looked at him in disbelief: "What did you just say?"

"We didn't have sex," Dave repeated calmly.

For a moment JJ was rendered speechless, which did not happen very often to the usually so eloquent media liaison. Dave looked at her in anticipation of an outburst, trying to read her face to be able to brace himself for the attack and come up with the right defense. More counting on some very vocal yelling, he didn't expect her to become violent and attack him physically.

But JJ couldn't help herself and started smacking his arms and chest and every other part of his body that she was able to reach as hard as she could with her fists, accompanying her assault with the most dirty words Dave had ever heard coming out of her mouth.

"You bastard! How could you? Do you have any idea how worried I was all weekend?"

"JJ, please! It was just a joke!" Dave tried to defend himself, struggling to do his best to keep her ever-attacking hands in place.

"A joke? This is your idea of a joke? Let me tell you that there is nothing even remotely funny about it!" She talked herself into a rage.

"I'm sorry, JJ. I didn't realize-" Dave started to apologize.

"Of course you didn't!" JJ interrupted him at once. "Why would you, you self-centered bastard! It's always about you and your pleasure, isn't it? Urgh, I could kill you right now!" She let go of him and sat back in the couch, folding her arms, and shaking her head. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard.

"JJ... Jennifer. Look, I'm really sorry about this! Will you let me explain?" He asked carefully, hoping she wouldn't turn for another attack.

But JJ simply ignored him, her mind reeling every possible homicide scenario she could come up with.

"JJ, did you really think I would make a move on an inebriated woman, who had passed out on me after barely one glass of wine?" Hearing no response from her, he leaned over to whisper seductively into her ear. "Trust me, sweetheart, when I take you to bed to make love to you, there will be nothing for you to forget about!"

JJ noticed in the back of her mind that he had said 'when' and not 'if', but when she turned her head and saw the cocky smirk in his face, the thought escaped her mind just as quick as it had appeared.

"I can't believe you did this," she hissed dangerously. "Did you get off on that all weekend?"

"Jennifer, I'm really sorry," Dave replied remorsefully. "I didn't mean to hurt you. What can I do to make it up to you?"

She glared at him with such anger in her eyes that he didn't know if there actually was anything he could do to reconcile her.

Getting up from the couch, JJ yelled at him: "Get out of my eyes, that's what you can do! And for your continued safety I'd strongly suggest you keep your distance from now on! Because I cannot guarantee for anything when I'm near you!" With a last hard smack onto his shoulder, she stomped out of his office, and down the stairs into the bullpen.

Seeing Emily's raised eyebrows as she passed her desk, JJ quickly pressed out: "Don't. Ask!"

For the rest of the morning, JJ locked herself up in her office, and holed up in her paperwork, snarling and yelling at everyone who dared to enter her lair, while Dave spent the next few hours desperately trying to come up with any idea to win her back. Or rather, to win her for himself, once and for all.

He realized that his joke had backfired to him with a full blow, and now feared that he had lost her for good. He felt honestly sorry for what he had done, but nothing he thought about seemed to be enough and apology.

In his first plan he had wanted to ask her out, but he knew that the last thing JJ would want to do now was to go out with him. So he reckoned that another try to apologize should be appropriate, and he hoped that after a few hours, she might have calmed down a bit.

Far from it. He didn't even make it into her office, when the first item came flying towards him as he opened the door. It was just a Kleenex box and didn't hurt much, but seeing that JJ already had her hand on her coffee mug, he quickly closed the door again, and knew that he had to come up with another way to say sorry.

He went back to his own office, deciding to skip lunch and instead calling a flower shop to deliver her a bouquet of her favorite flowers, spending about half an hour on the phone to dictate the florist what he wanted written in the card.

He shouldn't have bothered, because JJ didn't even read the card, but grabbed the flowers, storming into his office with them and dropped them in front of Dave, smushing every single flower with her heels and left again without having said a single word. No flowers then.

Realizing that she would do the same if he gave her her favorite chocolates, he brushed this thought aside, and found that some good old begging and pleading was in order. Grabbing a few case files, he decided to spend the rest of the day in front of her office door if she wasn't willing to let him in.

Knocking on her door, he immediately heard her yell: "If that's you, Rossi, I advise you not to come in, I have my gun at the ready!"

"Fine, I can say what I have to say from out here," Dave shouted back, slipping down her door and leaned his back against it. "I'm so sorry, JJ! You have to believe me that I didn't mean to do anything to hurt you!"

"Yeah, right," JJ snorted sarcastically, busying herself with her file, and trying her hardest not to listen to the heartfelt apologies that came from outside, which was harder than she thought.

She could honestly say that she had never met a more infuriating man before, but the more she listened to his pleading voice, the more her thoughts drifted off.

What had he said this morning? _When_ I take you to bed... She felt a sudden shiver run through her body at that thought, remembering Saturday morning, his arms around her as she woke up, and she couldn't help but imagine all the other things his hands were most certainly capable of doing. With every word he said outside, she felt her anger slowly fade, until all she could to was to smile at the whole situation. She was surprised at how serious he obviously was, knowing that everyone else would probably have apologized once and then waited for a few days until it was over and done with, and it made her wonder if there was a bit more behind his interest for her than to just get her back into his bed.

Nevertheless, she decided to let him beg a little bit more. He definitely deserved some punishment, and was probably giving one hell of a show to everyone passing her office, and she had quite a bit of fun letting him sweat some more.

And indeed, Rossi had never seen more raised eyebrows and amused grins in his life, hoping that in the end it was all worth it.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there in front of her office, his voice already being pretty hoarse, when suddenly the resistance behind his back gave in and he found himself lying flat on his back, staring up into the most wonderful blue eyes of the most amazing woman he'd ever met.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: I am deeply sorry for not updating earlier, but I was sick all week and wasn't really up for anything. Thank you so much everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I couldn't get back to you personally, but you really made me happy with your feedback! **_

_**This is the last chapter! Hope you all enjoy this as well as you have enjoyed the whole story! **_

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**Dates And Other Difficulties**

"How long do you plan on sitting outside my office, Rossi?" JJ asked, trying her best to keep a neutral expression and to bite back the laughter she had the urge to burst into at the sight of the legendary David Rossi lying beneath her feet.

Struggling to his feet, Dave let out a small moan, noting that sitting on a hard, concrete floor for hours wasn't something his body could put away as easily as twenty years ago.

"As long as it takes for you to accept my apology," he answered truthfully. He gave her a gentle smile, and JJ felt her heart melt inside her.

Mentally shaking herself, she told herself again that she would not give in so easily. She had planned on keeping him in suspense just because he deserved it, if only for another few minutes until she got a proper explanation from him. Her anger had melted away over the past two hours he had been in front of her door, telling her in numerous ways how sorry he was for his behavior.

While she had listened to his heartfelt apologies, she had done a lot of thinking. Sure, his joke had been stupid and silly, and she had never appreciated it when someone was having a laugh at her expense, but her heart began to beat faster at the notion that it had just been that – a joke. Her heart grew even fonder for Dave when she thought about the fact that he had remained the perfect gentleman that night, when she realized that he would never do anything to deliberately hurt her. And she had begun to ask herself again what his motives were with her. Because judging from the past two hours, it felt as if he was far more interested in her than she had always thought. Him having feelings for her was something she had always chalked up to wishful thinking, but now it felt real and within reach.

Stepping aside to let him I, she said: "Start talking Rossi. And for your sake I hope you have a proper explanation for your behavior."

Grinning at her widely, he walked past her, bending down to whisper seductively into her hear, his warm breath at her neck sending a shiver down her spine: "Oh, I bet you will like my answer."

JJ could only gasp in surprise as she struggled to keep her composure, something that didn't escape Dave's notice. So he hadn't lost her yet, he thought to himself, quite the opposite in fact, he could feel how much she wanted him, just as much as he wanted her. Smiling satisfied to himself, he didn't wait for an invitation but went straight over to her couch to sit down.

Waiting for her to take a seat as well, he fought the urge to just pull her to him and kiss her senseless. No, she deserved to know the whole truth first.

"I am truly sorry, Jennifer. It was a stupid prank, I know that, but I never meant to hurt you with it. The opportunity was just too good to let it pass. I thought it was funny and that we could both laugh about it, and quite honestly, I was a bit surprised that you actually believed me without questioning. I was going to tell you during breakfast, but then you wanted to leave so quickly and I didn't find the right moment, or probably missed it, I don't know." He took her hand and looked deeply into her eyes, his demeanor changing and becoming even more serious than before.

"You know that I would never deliberately hurt you, don't you?" He asked softly, gently playing with her fingers in his hand. Seeing her nod, he continued: "I would never take advantage of a drunken woman. Especially not you, Jennifer. Although you weren't really drunk, not after barely a glass of wine. You were just exhausted." He paused to see her agree again, and then went on: "I want you to know that I would do everything in my power to protect you, you hear me? I'm so sorry that I made you worry so much. Why didn't you just call me?"

"I did. Twice. But your phone went straight to voicemail, and when I tried to call you at home on Sunday, you weren't there," JJ answered.

"Ah, damn. I'm sorry. After I'd dropped you off, I decided to visit my parents, as I didn't have anything else to do on the weekend. And I usually turn off my phone, when I'm there. Hotch would have known where to find me if a case had come up." He had totally forgotten to turn the phone back on when he came back home Sunday night.

"Can you forgive me for everything, Jennifer?"

"Promise me you'll never do it again?"

"I promise."

JJ knew they had reached a point where it didn't make any more sense to keep him begging.

"I forgive you," she told him quietly, smiling gently at his breath of relief.

"Thank you, Jennifer."

There was a short silence, before Dave asked: "May I take you out for dinner tonight?"

"As in, a date?" JJ asked a bit surprised.

Not wanting to let another chance to win her for himself slip through his fingers, he opted for total honesty from now on, and that began with letting her know loud and clear what his intentions were.

"Yes, a date. That is, if you still want to go out after your experience on Friday."

JJ nodded.

"I don't think it can get any worse than that," she replied.

"You'll be in good hands with me, I promise. You're in for a real treat."

JJ knew he could believe his words, but when he picked her up from home that night, she was still nervous. She was going on a date with David Rossi! A real date with the man she had secretly longed for in a longer time that she would admit. This would be nothing like the disaster from Friday night, of that she was sure, but it didn't stop her from imagining all kinds of scenarios that could go wrong, primarily with her screwing things up.

Of course, none of her fears were confirmed. She had the perfect evening with Dave.

He had treated her like a queen the minute she had opened the door, bringing her flowers – the same as in the afternoon, and this time JJ not only acknowledged his choice but also felt her heart almost burst with joy at the fact that he knew what here favorite flowers were. His then following compliment that he'd never seen a more beautiful woman before had only melted her even more, and JJ began to ask herself why she had ever questioned his motives with her.

Their dinner conversation was light, but also giving both the chance to get to know each other even better. Dave never failed to make JJ smile, and realized that he himself hadn't smiled so much in a long time. They simply had a good time with each other, and unlike her previous date, this time JJ knew the moment they'd entered the restaurant that there would definitely be a second date. And a third, and fourth, and God only knew how many more.

After they had both finished their dessert and had talked and listened to each other for another few moments, Dave asked JJ if she wanted to take a late walk with him before he brought her home.

She agreed readily, not wanting the evening to end anytime soon.

They walked quietly to the nearby park which was now dark and deserted, lying silently and peacefully in the moonlight. Once they had entered the park, Dave took JJ's hand and linked his fingers with hers. They walked hand in hand until they came to a small bench and sat down, never letting go of each others' hands, both enjoying the comfortable silence and the closeness until Dave began to speak again.

His voice huskily, he hoped that he wouldn't send her running with what he was about to tell her now.

"I have another confession to make, Jennifer."

Surprised, JJ turned her head to look at him, the moon bathing his face in a pale, silver light.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Your date with Henderson... I... staged it," he said softly.

"I'm sorry?" JJ didn't really understand what he was talking about, and she suddenly wasn't so sure anymore if she would like what she was about to hear.

"Well, I set you up," Dave answered, pausing for a second to gauge her reaction.

Deciding to let him explain first before she'd give her comments, she gestured him to go on.

"I saw Henderson asking you out, and all of a sudden I saw all my chances with you slip away. I just had to do something. So I cornered him on his way back to his office and asked him for a favor." He hesitated for a moment as he saw JJ raising her eyebrow, and then admitted: "Well, actually I threatened him a bit with a sudden transfer to Alaska if he didn't oblige my request."

JJ shook her head and couldn't suppress a smile. That was so typically Rossi!

"I told him to pull off the worst behavior he could imagine so that you would have no other choice but to leave the date early," Dave continued.

JJ took a moment to absorb the news when it dawned her.

"Then meeting you outside that restaurant was not a coincidence?" She asked.

Dave shook his head.

"No, it wasn't. I followed you and waited until you came out."

"But why?"

"I finally wanted to tell you how I felt. You never gave me a chance before, and I figured you'd be willing to come home with me when I offered you to talk about what made you so upset. I thought I could get you to spend some time alone with me without worrying about what my intentions were. I hoped we would have a comfortable evening together and I would get the chance to talk to you. But then you passed out on me just when I had worked up the courage to tell you."

"Tell me what?" JJ prompted, hoping to hear what she had wanted all along.

"That I have been in love with you ever since we've been working together," Dave confessed softly, glad that the moment of truth had finally come.

JJ gasped as if she couldn't believe that he had actually said what she'd been secretly dreaming of for so long.

"I just hope that I haven't read your signs wrong," Dave added in a whisper when she didn't say anything at first.

"No, you haven't," JJ whispered back, tears filling her eyes as she felt happier than ever before, leaning over to get as close to him as possible. She couldn't believe that he would go to such lengths to get her, but also knew that now that she had him, there was no way she'd ever let him go again.

"Thank God," Dave smiled relieved, gently brushing a strand of her hair out of her face before cupping her cheek.

When their lips met for the first time, they both felt as if a rain of shooting stars was falling down on them, both knowing that their biggest wish had just come true. Dave pulled JJ into his lap and held her close while they shared long and intense kisses under the moonlight.

They didn't know how much time had passed until JJ whispered again: "I'm in love with you, too."

Dave tightened his embrace around her and she felt just like she had that morning in his bed. Loved, safe and protected. Leaning her head against his shoulder, she heard him ask: "Wanna watch the rest of that movie?"

She nodded against him and they both knew that they most likely wouldn't be seeing much of the film again, but neither of them cared. There would be plenty of time in their new life together to catch up on that.


End file.
